Twins Arrive, Tunnel Work Complete, Etc.

It sure has been a busy several weeks! First off, I'm a father (again!) of twins. My daughter Charlotte and son Phillip were born early in the morning on May 8, and are doing well. Katy and I are even getting some sleep occasionally. We are both happy that the twins came second, after our daughter Elizabeth. We at least know how to be efficient with feeding and changing and all the other stuff that comes along with new babies, even though it is taking us twice as long (or worse) as it would otherwise.

As I alluded to in previous notes, the kids are going to eat up a good chunk of my remaining free time before I get back to graduate school in late August. However, Katy's mother is down until the middle of June, and I'm taking advantage of that to spend 5-6 hours in the shop 3 or 4 days a week. I've managed to get quite a bit done in the last two weeks, especially because it is essentially mirror image work of things I have already done.

The tunnel repairs are complete. I had to completely rebuild the flange on the right side of the tunnel, it was in worse shape than on the left side. It was "fun" making the little hump in the center where the two pieces of floor pan overlap, but at least it proves I'm getting better at minor fabrication. Some production notes:

• Using the plasma cutter continues to speed things up, but it is not without its own set of minor drawbacks. For one thing, when you cut metal with it, the metal gets pretty hot (duh). I managed to melt the outer sheathing on the wiring harness while trimming away the rusty part of the right side of the tunnel.
  
  I know, I know, everyone says to remove the wiring harness before welding on the tunnel. It just looked like it was going to be a tremendous pain in the butt, so I gambled. Luckily, I didn't really lose-- only the outer part of the harness was damaged, the wires inside (and their insulation) remained unscathed. I tightly wrapped the scorched sections with electrical tape (red, to easily identify in case I'm wrong about the damage and need to find the shorts later) and then moved the exposed portion of the harness away from the tunnel edge for finishing the job.
• I've switched to using roloc-style sanding/grinding discs of my little mini air-powered die grinder for most of my finish grinding work, especially when grinding plug welds. It produces a better final finish, and the small size has allowed me to get into tighter places than I can with the big 4 1/2" electric grinder. Replacing a worn out disc with a fresh one, or changing coarseness grades only takes a few seconds. I highly recommend this system.

After completing the tunnel, I then switched my attention to finishing the right side inner longitudinal. There was a bit more damage to this side than the left side, but the process for repair has been more or less the same. The only change that I made was to make a lap-weld of the repair panel, rather than a butt-weld. People on 356 Talk said this would result in a stronger joint, and because all of it is covered by carpet anyway, appearance really doesn't matter.

Getting the actual replacement floor pan installed now doesn't seem like such a distant task. I need to finish this inner longitudinal flange, and then do some minor repairs at the front lip of the bulkhead behind the pedal board area, and then it is ready! I'll probably install the right side outer longitudinal before putting in the floor, as I did on the left side, for strength, but it doesn't seem like it would be strictly necessary to do the job in that order.

I'm taking a drive with other North Carolina 356 owners down to Southern Pines tomorrow. It should be fun, I'm bringing the whole family. Unfortunately, I won't be driving my 356, so I'll be riding in my 911. Too bad the A/C isn't working properly in there, because it has been a hot May in North Carolina this year, with temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s. However, none of the 356s will have air conditioning either, so I'll suffer with the rest of them. There are quite a few people who have 356s in the area, and I hope that someday, a more regular owners group can be put together for minor events and other fun.

Posted by pbrown at May 22, 2004 01:39 PM